Social safety nets for vulnerable and low income group: a case study of fishing communities in Malaysia / Abdul Rahim Anuar ... [et al.]

Social safety nets can preserve and sustain fishermen livelihoods. The mechanisms for
implementing the social security nets model for fishermen should be based on their sustainable
livelihood index that comprised of livelihood assets, vulnerable context faced by them and resilient
strategies of fishermen when faced with economic shocks. These index and indicators were obtained
from the findings of this study involving the use of questionnaires distributed to 400 fishermen in
Kedah related to the sustainability of their livelihoods. In the context of livelihood asset index, these
fishermen attained the highest index for physical assets (0.65), followed by social (0.54), human
(0.50), natural (0.42), and the lowest being finance (0.26). This is in line with their economic status,
where most of them having low-income and are poor. They are also trapped in a vicious poverty
cycle. Additionally, these fishermen are vulnerable to the rising prices of basic necessities at present
by recording the highest index level of vulnerability, 3.12, compared to other threats. This is
consistent and in line with the thrifty strategy adopted in their spending, with the highest resilient
strategy score (3.60) compared to other strategies. In addition to financial assistance in the form of
subsidies, the mechanism for implementing a social safety net model for these fishermen needs to pay
attention to changes in values and attitudes to improve the value of self-efficacy. This capacity building will encourage them to increase productivity of their economic activity and thus attaining higher income and remove themselves from the poverty trap.